Apparatus for welding tubing.



W. C. vFRICK.

APPARATUS FOR WELDING TUBING.

APPucATloN man ocT. 22, X914.

aeentd July 25, 19%.

' w. c. mex. 4

.MMS

yatemmuly ,25, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 UNITED" sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM c. ERICE, or LEAL BEACH, NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR WELDING TUBING.

t Specieation of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 22, 1914. Serial No. 868,064.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known-that I, Wi'LLIAM C. FRTCK, a citizen of theUnited States, and a resident of Deal Beach, in the county of Monmouth and State of New Jersey, have invented certain' new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Welding Tubing, of which the following is a specification.

This'invention relates to improvements in apparatus for welding tubing such as shown in my U. S. Patents Nos. 989,497, 1,005,764 and 1,005,765. In the aforesaid patents I have shown apparatus for producing tubing by one continuous and progressive method, starting at the point where the metal leaves the rolling mill heating furnace and ending with the finished product in the shape of welded tubing; In the apparatus shown in the aforesaid patents, I employ a succession of heating devices, the iirst patent referred to showing both gas and electrical heating devices, and the other two patents showing only electrical devices. With theseheating devices I augment the heat remaining in the skelp after the rolling thereof, by heating the edges of the tubing ata plurality of places along the path of the tube, until said remaining heat, supplemented by the addi-y tional heat, raises the edges of the formed tube, successively and progressively until a welding heat is reached.

In the present invention, instead of using gas or electrical heating devices, I use frictional means for augmenting the heat to successively and progressively raise the heat to the weldingipoint.

My invention consists in the apparatus shown in its preferable embodiment and as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the aforesaid drawings: Figure 1 is a sectlonal vlew of apparatus showmg 1n conventional form my invention, the apparatus being broken away at the points indicated as will be hereinafter explained. Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the formation of the tube as it passes through the appara.-A

tus. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of several parts detached; Fig. 4 is a sectional detail. Fig. 5 is a vertical section on' an enlarged scale of the frictional heating rolls and the means for feeding the tube being welded. Fig. 6 is a top plan of the parts shown in Fig. 5. ,A

L Referring now to the details ofthe drawings bynumerals: l designates, in conventional form, the last set of rolls of a mill of continuous type, the other three sets not being illustrated. This mill, however, may b e of any form and not necessarily the continuous type, since the present invention does not relate to any form of mill, and other means may be substituted for that partially shown in the drawings.

As stated in one of my previous patents, in the preferable embodiment of my invention the billet, as it leaves thefurnace, is rolled into shape, and then formed into a tube, or into tube shape, in such a manner as to save as much as' possible of the original heat,'to which supplemental heat may be successively and progressively added to bring the edges of the formed tube to the welding point, and as the said billet passes through the successive passes of the mill, it is gradually rolled into shape so that by the time it passes out of the last of the four passes, or the pair of rolls l of, Fig. 1 of my drawings, it is of the shape shown at cz in Fig. 2. The skelp is now fed forward between the devices 4 and 5 shown detached in Fig. 3 and then passes through the rolls 2 'and 3 vwhereby the tube is formed into U- 'is now practically a tube, passes beyond the v member4, it is acted upon by a series of frictional heating disks 8, 10, '12 and 14, these disks being arranged to vpass through two box-like devices l6'and 18, shown in section in Fig. 4, which compress the upper half of the tube. Beneath the box-like devices 16 and 18 are a series of feeding rolls' 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28, all of which are carried by a frame 30 pivotally supported at its front end by asuitable -bolt 31. `These feed rolls 20-28 are provided with gears 32, 34, r36, 38 and 40 kwhich mesh with `the idler gears 42, 44, 46 and 48, the rst gear 32 beratentea July 25, 1916.

ing operated from a gear 50,which.may be driven from any suitable source ofpower.

From the' foregoing descriptionand the accompanying drawings,'it willbe seen that each of therolls 20-28 is driven inthe direction of the arrows shown, on Fig. 5 so that these rolls perform the double function 'of supporting thek tube in.: itsv passage through the mill and also feeding said tube forwardly. The: frame 30 which has been j described .as pivotally fsupported at 31 is 2liA provided with any suitableform of hanger, such as-52, which is adapted to coact with a quadrate 54'and either hold the rolls in their operative position, as shown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 5 or permit the feed rolls and their gears to be slightly lowered as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5, for the purpose of releasing the tube should it bethe edges of the tube are brought to welding 4 heat. In order to drive these yfrictional heating disks, any suitable gearing may be employed, but I have shown in conventional forma large gear 60 connected to the shaft 61 on which is ixed the gear 32 hereinbefore referred to, and this gear 60 meshes with a small gear 62 on the shaft supporting the first frictional disk 8. The other frictional disks 10, 12 and 14 are provided with similar gears 64, 66 and 68 whichV are driven from the rst gear 62 through 'the idler gears 70, 72 and 74. The frictional disks may be of any desired form and material but I pre fer the construction shown in detail in Fig.'4 where the frictional disk is formed of two `pla-tes 80 and 82, between which is a filler of mica, asbestos or any similar material 84. It will be -noticed that the plates 80 and 82 project beyond the filler of mica or asbestes so that there is. an air space between the interior sides of the plates 8O and 82. This construction is designed to prevent I l ,overheating of the plates forming the vfric- 145 tional vdisks 8-14.

After the tubepasses through the several disks 8-14, the edges are brought ,to welding heat and the edges are thereupon closed by means of the closing rolls 90 and 92 and the tube thereupon passes through welding dies of-any desired form vsuch as .shown at 94 and 96,-wliich crowd the edges together,

f thereby weldingthe same.

From the foregomg andv accompanying drawings, it will be' observed that afterI the .skelp is rolled in the various passes and finally emerges -through the rolls 1, the metal is shapedas shown at w in Fig..2, but' in passing-throughY the `various passes of the mill `the heat has been somewhat reduced and before the tube can be welded, it must have its heat augmented. Therefore, as the tube is fed by means of the feed rolls 20-28 the edges o f th .tube are forced past the.

frictional heating disks, 8-14, which, re-

volving at a high speed, impart successively and progressively, sufficient heat to the already heated edges of the tube to bring said edges up to the welding point so that as said edges arey passed through the welding dies, they are fused together.

.It will be obvious that changes and modifications may be made in the form and construction of my apparatus without departingfrom the spirit thereof, and reference should therefore be made to the appended claims to determine the scope of the invention. v

What I claim as my invention is:

l. In apparatus of the character dcscribed, thecombination of means for feeding a slotted tube, and frictional means for heating the edges of said tube as said tube is fed by said frictional heating means.

2. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of means for feeding a slotted tube, and frictional disks, rotatable at high speed, for heating the edges lof said tube as said tube is fed by said frictional heating means.

3. In apparatus aof 3the character de'- sCribed, the combination of means for feeding a slotted tube, frictional disks, rotatable at high speed, for heating the edges of said tube as said tube is fed by, said frictional heating means, each of, said disks having a double periphery, with an vair space between the parts thereof.

4. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of means for 'feeding a slotted tube, frictional disks, rotatable at high speed, for heating the edges of said tube as said tube is fed by said frictional heating means, leach -of said disks being' formed of two-plates, with a filling of fireresisting material between' them, said plate 'having an air space between themk at the periphery thereof. y

5. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of a series vof roll ers for feeding a slotted tube, and frictiona-l disks, rotatable at high speed, for heating the edges of said tube as the latter is fed by said rollers.

6. In kapparatus of the character described, the combinaton of a series of rollers for feeding a slotted tube, and frictional disks, rotatable at high speed, for heating the edges of said tube as the latter is fed by said rollers, said feeding 'rollers being carried upon a frame and said 'frame being adjustable whereby the rollers may be moved out of position.

In apparatus of the character described, the combination of a series of rollers for feeding a slotted tube, means for positively driving said rollers, a Series of frictional disks located' in proximity `to said feeding rollers and arranged to project through the slot of thetube, means for positively rotating said disks at high speed, y In testimony whereof I ax my signature whereby the disks heat the edges of the tube in presence of two witnesses.

as the latter ^is fed by said rollers, and ay WILLIAM C. FRICK. frame for supporting said rollers, said frame Witnesses: 5 being adjustable whereby the rollers may be J. B. LOGAN,

moved out of position. Y HOWARD SHEET. 

